- Safiu Kehinde
The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) , an election monitoring group, has called for heavy sanction of any staff of the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) or adhoc worker caught subverting the process.
CTA made the call on Friday in Akwa at a pre-election news conference ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra.
The election expert team’s leader, Prof. Alex Asigbo, said Anambra people are expecting anything less than a perfect process from INEC as an institution, adding that its staff must live above board.
He called on INEC to ensure that movement of personnel and materials were topnotch, warning that hiccups that always marred elections should not be allowed to rear its ugly head during the election for any reason.
CTA expressed confidence in the ability of INEC to deliver a free, fair, credible and conclusive election while insisting that the electoral body should continue the deployment of the BVAS in the conduct of the elections.
“We commend INEC for initiating the process for sanctioning some of its errant election officials for misconduct in the past.
“This is not enough as we expect that more Electoral Officers and Adhoc staff should be sanctioned if found wanting in this election. Integrity should be the watch word for INEC staff,” he said.
The group said it had trained and would deploy 50 observers who would monitor the election and send in reports in real time; to give it firsthand information of what happened on election day.
CTA said it had collaborated with the Koyenum Immalah Foundation (KIF) to successfully implement a Voter Enlightenment and Education Programme in Orumba South Local Government Area (LGA), Anambra from September.
“The programme was designed to sensitise citizens on their electoral rights and responsibilities, promote peaceful participation, discourage malpractices such as vote buying and rigging, and motivate increased voter turnout ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
The CTA, which had set up an Election Day Situation Room in Awka for the election, encouraged citizens to exercise their civic responsibilities by voting for candidates of their choice.
“There may not have been recorded security infractions associated with campaigns in the last three months. However, there are security scars around some flash points, like Orumba South, Ihiala, Ogbaru etc.
“CTA calls for better synergy between security agencies across board to ensure safety of citizens, INEC personnel and materials before, during and after the elections on Saturday.
“Citizens are encouraged to turnout in high numbers as we consider the election very important hence we implore citizens to take it very seriously.
“We call on citizens to shun vote buying and trading and conduct themselves with utmost decorum while ensuring that their votes count,” he said.